Malick’s “The New World – Extended Cut” arrives October 14!

Out of the blue, an announcement was just posted from Businesswire that Terrence Malick‘s already-legendary extended versionof his masterpiece, The New World, my favorite film of the decade so far, is coming to DVD on October 14.

This edition of the critically-acclaimed, Oscar-nominated epic recreating the turbulent first days of the new America now features more than 30 minutes of never-before-seen footage, heightening the viewing experience with more battles, more intensity and more visual splendor. Also included is a comprehensive, ten-part documentary, Making the New World, which captures the unique creative challenges filmmakers faced.

That means the film will now span 172 beauty-filled minutes. I’m deliriously happy at this news.

But the question remains: Is this just an extended cut from Warner Brothers, with the integration of several cut scenes? Or is it THE director’s cut that Malick was reportedly crafting on his own?

Various people at the press junket talked about a three-hour version of the film, and Kilcher at one point talked about how hard it was to cut the film down to 135 minutes — which was interesting, considering the version we had all seen was the 150-minute version! (They didn’t even announce the 135-minute version until weeks later, but I guess Kilcher and the others knew that it was in the works.)

As for the documentary… the original DVD had a ten-part documentary with the exact same title as the ten-part documentary on the upcoming DVD. Do we have any reason to believe that the new documentary will be any different?

sisyhp

To my recollection the 172 minute cut of ‘The New World’ was a version edited prior to both the so-called Academy version(150 min.) and the later, final 135 min. theatrical cut. Composer James Horner spoke of the film initially being “a 3 hour movie,” being one of many from inside the production to confirm this specific cut. The Academy version was a “work in progess” in Mr Malick’s effort to shorten running time(to an alleged preset agreement with New Line to meet 2 hours), until the director settled with the preferred(to the Academy version, that is) 135 min. cut. Expected new footage possibly includes a suicide attempt from the character played by Ms Kilcher, as a much extended underwater sequence(opening shots).

Back in May/July 2006 Mr Malick visited DVD sound mixing facility Mi Casa Multimedia to oversee work on a 172 minute extended cut, most likely the very same cut now announced, now finally to be released in october.

‘Tree of Life’ is 4 months into filming, with the crew expected to leave Utah end June and wrap up in Iceland in July(rumored). A december 2009 (limited) release has been suggested.

Good to see someone else who loves this film as much as I do, Jeffrey! I can’t wait to see this new version, with the added documentaries. The documentary on the previous DVD was excellent I thought, so this added behind-the-scenes stuff should be a real treat. Hopefully we’ll actually SEE Malick in some of the new docu-footage! :)

Speaking of Malick, has anyone heard how far along they are on the “Tree of Life” production, and when the expected release date is for that?

yankeh

I’m pretty sure there was a ten part making-of included in an earlier version too. I wonder if it’s the same.

ladypartain

Jeff, I love you and respect your opinion. Maybe I should see the movie again, as I find it hard to place as favorite movie of the decade. At any rate, it’s coming out on my birthday, so another great thing to happen that day!! :)

petertchattaway

Another question: Since the first version of this film — the one that had an extremely limited release to qualify for the Oscars — was 150 minutes long, and since this new version is only 22 minutes longer, what does it mean when the press release says the new version will include “more than 30 minutes of never-before-seen footage”? Will footage from that first version remain on the cutting-room floor? Will footage from the second, 135-minute version be shuffled off to the cutting-room floor, too, to make room for the new footage?